Fearful | The scene of an accident flashes before my eyes

I have never been involved in any contact or collision accidents in the past.
Just as I was about to write that with full confidence, I remembered two contact accidents.
Both were so-called property damage incidents with minor injuries, and because I immediately contacted the relevant parties and apologized, and did not involve the police, they did not escalate into major issues. That is all.

I reflected that the expression 'completely accident-free' was problematic.

Both occurred while I was working for a moving company.

One was when I was on a road with a guardrail, stopped the truck right on the edge of the road shoulder to make a phone call, and after confirming that no vehicles were approaching from behind, I turned the steering wheel sharply to the right.

I felt something was wrong along with a metallic 'screech' from behind.
I immediately slammed on the brakes, turned on the hazard lights, and got out of the truck to find that the aluminum bumper at the rear of the truck had hit a guardrail post.

I understood immediately after thinking, 'Huh?'

It was an overhang, where the rear of the cargo bed swings out using the rear wheels as an axis.
While you hardly need to worry about this in a regular passenger car, you must be careful with trucks that have a cargo bed extending far beyond the rear wheels.
Fortunately, the guardrail post was not deformed, and only a little paint had peeled off (strictly speaking, I had a duty to report it to the police). However, the truck's bumper was deformed.
Of course, I immediately contacted the company to report the situation, but the generous? response was, 'If there are no human injuries, you're good to come back!'

The other incident was an accident caused by a lack of attention to the ceiling of the cargo bed.
It happened while I was moving during a job on a narrow road that was only about one and a half vehicle widths wide, when a neighbor wanted to pull their car out of the garage, and I hurriedly moved the truck forward and tried to park it as close to the left side as possible.

Normally, when moving a truck, there must always be a spotter (guide). However, since all the workers were out moving items, I had to move the vehicle alone (at that time, I was called a 'loader' and was mainly in charge of loading items onto the truck).
As expected, the eaves of the house, which were invisible from the driver's seat, were slightly protruding into the road, and the truck was slightly tilted toward the eaves due to the road gradient for rainwater drainage, which caused one roof tile to fall and another to shift.

'Oh no, I've done it!'

At the same time, I got out of the truck and went to apologize to the house I had hit.
Just by talking through the intercom, they said, 'You're from the moving company, right?' and 'I'm not in a hurry, so just fix it back to how it was.' What god-like words those were.

I was flustered and called the store manager to explain the situation, but the quick reply was, 'If there is debris on the road, just move it to the side and get back to work immediately.'
It seems the store manager went to apologize to the house that had the tile contact that evening (I was not told the details of how it was handled after that).
I was told about it much later.
It was a busy time with two or three jobs every day, so I suppose they were being considerate. I have nothing but gratitude.

And so, these are the only two cases, before or since (only two? haha).

Perhaps it was after this that I started pointing and calling out at every change in driving action (even now, even when I don't point, I confirm it out loud).

In addition, scenes of violent collisions (which I have, of course, never experienced) sometimes flash through my mind.
I can imagine the intense impact, the sound, and the smell of burning oil.

As I am naturally a fearful person, every time this scene flashes before my eyes, I ask myself, 'Is the speed okay?', 'Can I see everything?', 'Will I hit anything?'

Afterword

When I was young, I thought, 'I won't cause an accident.'
However, things are a little different now.

No one intends to cause an accident.

A tiny lack of checking.
A tiny bit of impatience.
A tiny bit of assumption.

The accumulation of those things leads to an accident.
That is why, while driving, I sometimes imagine the worst-case scenario.

What if a pedestrian darts out at an intersection?
What if an oncoming vehicle crosses the center line?
What if drowsiness hits me at this very moment?

It is by no means a pleasant imagination.
In fact, it is an unpleasant one.

Even so, that unpleasant imagination acts as my brake.
Perhaps being a fearful person isn't so bad after all.

#Essay
#TrafficAccident
#PropertyDamageAccident
#DrivingMemories
#BitterMemories
#MovingCompany
#TruckBlindSpot
#Overhang
#FearfulPersonality
#OnSleeplessNights